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While I did get a sense of a "filler" vibe from this episode, I wonder if one can treat the first episode of each arc, this case being "Little Birds can Remember," as a preface for what may come as the arc progresses. Or, I am probably over-thinking this?

Well, after the brilliant conclusion to the first arc, this episode was a big disappointment for me.
The mistery was even duller than the first episode's and sometimes Eru can be really annoying.
The saving grace of this show, as usual, are the visuals. Really liked Angel Chitanda and the mini-Chitandas swarming Houtaro. I also like the creativeness of KyoAni in depicting the clues, in this case using crash-test dummies.

For anyone who was drawn to the show's previous mystery arc, this episode would surely be a huge disappointment.

After all, this is probably one of the pointless mysteries we've had yet. Most would just attribute the "mystery" to forgetfulness and move on with their lives, but they had to attach an elaborate explanation for something so trivial.

On the other hand, I'd also say the mystery wasn't the episode's real focus. In fact, the episode focused more on the show's slice-of-life elements by emphasizing character interaction, which is fine. I think it's good to have a few breather episodes every once in a while with the characters just talking to each other, so we can get a better feel of their personalities. For instance, it was nice to witness different sides to Houtarou and Eru in this episode.

I found this episode very impressive. It had such a tiny, insignificant and dull mystery, but still managed to be watchable and interesting based on other factors. This series is really good at providing a feeling of atmosphere and making the characters have depth.

Chitanda's "I'm curious!" is getting really annoying now. But, judging by the little scary Chitandas that were crawling over Houtarou, he knows it too.

I loved the bit where Chitanda said she didn't like to waste energy getting angry and Houtarou thought for a moment that he'd met his soulmate.

Oreki: Weren't you mad, like, two hours ago when you were yelling in class?

Chitanda: That's right, Oreki-san! I wanted to ask you about that -- why was I mad?

Oreki: How the hell should I know?

Chitanda: But I'm curious! Tell me why I was mad.

Oreki: Maybe you should consult your doctor about these memory problems.

Heaven forbid they ever get romantic. "Oreki-san, last night when I went home after kissing you, I found there was something wrong with my panties! Even though I never went near water, they were damp! I'm curious, Oreki-san, what could've caused it?"

Oreki: Weren't you mad, like, two hours ago when you were yelling in class?

Chitanda: That's right, Oreki-san! I wanted to ask you about that -- why was I mad?

Oreki: How the hell should I know?

Chitanda: But I'm curious! Tell me why I was mad.

Oreki: Maybe you should consult your doctor about these memory problems.

Heaven forbid they ever get romantic. "Oreki-san, last night when I went home after kissing you, I found there was something wrong with my panties! Even though I never went near water, they were damp! I'm curious, Oreki-san, what could've caused it?"

You win the internet for that bit of comedy gold. Well done!

But I'm pretty sure the writer of this realizes that Chitanda isn't quite normal, lol.

The first episode half had me chuckling all the way, it was entertaining to learn these little tidbits about the characters, and I actually wish if Eru followed the "Let's make satoshi angry" line of thought, I wonder what that would be like?

But yeah, that type of subtle humor is my cup of chai, and the progression of their conversation felt so natural without being bogged down by forced witty-ness.

I just rewatched the episode for the second (i.e., third) time. Gets even more enjoyable, for me. The delicacy of everything is outstanding.

And I don't know about anyone else, but if I were jotting it down in a hurry, I could easily write my small "a" and "d" so that I couldn't quite tell the difference when I came back to look at them. And I'm a native English speaker with a fair amount of education. Just not much manual dexterity, lol.

And I don't know about anyone else, but if I were jotting it down in a hurry, I could easily write my small "a" and "d" so that I couldn't quite tell the difference when I came back to look at them. And I'm a native English speaker with a fair amount of education. Just not much manual dexterity, lol.

In any other circumstance you'd be entirely correct. However, think of how every single Japanese school categorized their room numbers: 1-A, 2-C, 3-B, etc.

They don't write it like 1-a, 2-c, 3-b, and it was shown in Chitanda's explanation as well. A teacher especially should be privy, nay, ATTACHED to this standard.

Don't get me wrong though, I could really care less if it's 100% accurate or not. It was still a fun mystery and there's nothing to nitpick about the episode itself.

Oreki: Weren't you mad, like, two hours ago when you were yelling in class?

Chitanda: That's right, Oreki-san! I wanted to ask you about that -- why was I mad?

Oreki: How the hell should I know?

Chitanda: But I'm curious! Tell me why I was mad.

Oreki: Maybe you should consult your doctor about these memory problems.

Heaven forbid they ever get romantic. "Oreki-san, last night when I went home after kissing you, I found there was something wrong with my panties! Even though I never went near water, they were damp! I'm curious, Oreki-san, what could've caused it?"

Now now, I doubt that mere kissing would be enough to get a girl wet unless if there were some heavy petting along to go with it. But I do get your point

This episode was boring. The teacher & the maths was meh.
Well , there was a little development for Chitanda & Houtarou but that's it.

Next , fanservice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

Was this episode supposed to be self-parody?

Chitanda: I never get mad!

Oreki: Weren't you mad, like, two hours ago when you were yelling in class?

Chitanda: That's right, Oreki-san! I wanted to ask you about that -- why was I mad?

Oreki: How the hell should I know?

Chitanda: But I'm curious! Tell me why I was mad.

Oreki: Maybe you should consult your doctor about these memory problems.

Heaven forbid they ever get romantic. "Oreki-san, last night when I went home after kissing you, I found there was something wrong with my panties! Even though I never went near water, they were damp! I'm curious, Oreki-san, what could've caused it?"

In any other circumstance you'd be entirely correct. However, think of how every single Japanese school categorized their room numbers: 1-A, 2-C, 3-B, etc.

They don't write it like 1-a, 2-c, 3-b, and it was shown in Chitanda's explanation as well. A teacher especially should be privy, nay, ATTACHED to this standard.

Don't get me wrong though, I could really care less if it's 100% accurate or not. It was still a fun mystery and there's nothing to nitpick about the episode itself.

It was explicitly stated in the episode that he wrote the letters in lowercase because he was a Math teacher, and variables are commonly written in lowercase. One gets accustomed to it after decades of doing it.

And Eru didn't ask "why was I mad?" in the literal sense of the word. Don't take everything at face value, especially if you don't really know the connotations of it in the original language (I don't know them either, just throwing that out). What she was curious about was more along the lines of "why would I get mad over such a tiny slip?" She didn't get her feelings, a thing I'd say happens very frequently to any human being.

And one last thing. People still think this show is about the "mysteries"? It's obviously an almost pure slice of life with Iyashikei elements, the riddles are just a secondary device for easier characterization and to give direction to the episodes. Instead of "the soothing adventures of the Classics Club" you get "the soothing mystery-solving Classics Club", but the overall feeling and purpose of the show would be the same in both cases.

And one last thing. People still think this show is about the "mysteries"?

Why shouldn't people think that?

1) There's been at least one mystery comprehensively explored in each and every episode so far. This would be akin to K-On having at least one insert song per episode... So at the very least, Hyouka takes its mysteries more seriously than K-On took its music.

2) The mystery surrounding Chitanda's Uncle was actually very good, on its own merits. It was a very good mystery that was spread out over a few episodes. It contributed greatly to the quality of Episodes 4 and 5.

Now, if a show bills itself as a Mystery show, has mysteries in every episode, has an actually good multi-episode mystery for 3 of its first 5 episodes, then I think viewers have a right to take it as a Mystery show and to expect more mysteries (hopefully good ones).

It was explicitly stated in the episode that he wrote the letters in lowercase because he was a Math teacher, and variables are commonly written in lowercase. One gets accustomed to it after decades of doing it.

Math teacher or not, I'm questioning the action itself. Think of it this way: I am a Science teacher and must teach from a Chemistry textbook written in proper English. When describing chemicals in an everyday sentence, do you say "these bananas contain K" because you're a Science teacher? No, you say "these bananas contain potassium".

Same idea here. Even if you're a math teacher, Japanese schools use capital letters for categorizing their rooms, and a teacher (who goes through AT LEAST 2 years of rigorous study of this setting) would undoubtedly have the basic skills needed to separate his variables from his notes. I take it most of us here aren't certified teachers, and we can all do this.

But y'know, once again I'm not letting this get to me as the episode was nice. It's just something that I did find odd. I even consulted my Japanese teacher about it, and she said there's no way a teacher would make a mistake like that. Maybe it was intentional portrayed this way to show how easily the teacher could fly off the handle?

Quote:

And one last thing. People still think this show is about the "mysteries"? It's obviously an almost pure slice of life with Iyashikei elements, the riddles are just a secondary device for easier characterization and to give direction to the episodes. Instead of "the soothing adventures of the Classics Club" you get "the soothing mystery-solving Classics Club", but the overall feeling and purpose of the show would be the same in both cases.

I definitely see what you're saying, but there's plenty of reason for people to think that. It's the main drawing point aside from Chitanda's eyes and overall stunning visuals. It's been advertised to death as a "mystery" series. It's centered around a group that seems to nothing more than gather and try solving mysteries. Even when they're out of school in casual wear, they're sitting in Chitanda's ridiculously large settlement and solving a mystery.

Your point does make good sense though. On the whole, it kind of feels like a less over-the-top Haruhi setting at times, and that certainly wasn't sold as a "mystery" series. So in the case of characterization and everything else that happens outside of the mystery solving (which honestly does take up over half of each episode), I can see how it can be classified differently.

But y'know, once again I'm not letting this get to me as the episode was nice. It's just something that I did find odd. I even consulted my Japanese teacher about it, and she said there's no way a teacher would make a mistake like that. Maybe it was intentional portrayed this way to show how easily the teacher could fly off the handle?

As said above, the solution might not be the correct one, but one that Houtaro think can satisfy Eru the most.

I disagree completely with the idea that it would be so highly unlikely that the teacher would make such a mistake. Teachers are human beings. They can forget whom they have taught things to, and they can write sloppily, especially when they are writing a foreign language.

And for a math teacher to use the small letters he is more used to in this informal situation is perfectly reasonable. If he were writing it for others to see, he might be more careful to use capital letters and write them more clearly.

But it is also quite true that this doesn't have to be true, just reasonable enough for Eru to accept it, lol.